Strategies
Our Approach
We are a diverse community of educators, employers, and advocates on a mission to ensure that every student can discover and pursue their potential. We are committed to providing opportunities that allow young people to create a better world for themselves and for others.
We aim to achieve this by ensuring that every student in the Kansas City region graduates with at least one MVA by 2030. A high-quality MVA experience changes how students think about themselves and navigate the world around them.
Here is how we’re helping students succeed beyond the classroom:
Client Connected Projects
Client Connected Projects (CCPs) are authentic problems that students solve in collaboration with professionals from industry, not-for-profit, and community-based organizations. CCPs allow students to:
- Engage directly with employers
- Address real-world problems
- Develop essential skills
Learn more about how students earn a Client Connected Project MVA
Internships
Internships allow students to gain exposure to professional environments, experience work-based learning, and enjoy the benefits of mentorship while growing a critical professional network. Beyond providing value for students, they allow employers access to young talent with fresh perspectives and create opportunities for current employees to grow leadership skills.
Entrepreneurial Experiences
Young people need opportunities to make and test assumptions and to experience success and failure in constructive ways. Entrepreneurial Experiences (EE) provide the space, support, and resources to do just that. Students can work on authentic problems facing any corner of the world, whether social or economic, and connect with professionals to leverage their expertise.
Learn more about how students earn an Entrepreneurial Experience MVA
Industry-Recognized Credentials
Industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) are an important MVA category that requires special attention and deep consideration. With IRCs, students can gain a credential signaling professional skills to employers in a specific industry. While there are several state-approved IRCs, it is important to understand which ones are most relevant to local employers.
- Vet IRCs for their value to students and employers.
- Provide regional workforce intelligence, including employment data.
College Credit
Nine (9) or more hours of college-level credits in which the student completes coursework progressing toward a college degree.
MVA Guidance
Regardless of how Market Value Assets (MVAs) are implemented, they require specific attributes for a high-quality experience. These include a meaningful project, student agency, practical application, skill development, and professional networking opportunities.
Learn more about implementing high-quality MVA experiences for high school students.
Employer & Industry Engagement
Employers play a key role in creating access to quality real-world learning that allows students to explore how their interests, aptitudes, and skills align with local opportunities. Whether providing students with hands-on, authentic problem-solving experiences or connecting them to professional resources, we help employers find ways to get involved.
Learn more about Employer Engagement >
Data
Our data strategy supports equitable implementation of Market Value Assets, which makes collective learning more effective, cost-efficient, and impactful for administrators and educators and ultimately results in students owning their own data.
- Collaborate on data collection, evaluation, and reporting
- Create and share tools and platforms
- Inspire informed policy and systems changes
Student Agency
The RWL Student Agency programmatic work is student-led and educator-guided groups of students that support Real World Learning in their districts through:
- Student Ambassadors
- Student Voice
- RWL Storytelling – P.O.V.: Publish Our Voices digital magazine (winter 2024).
- Client Connected Project development
- Equity Strategies
Professional Development
Professional Development provides educators and school administrators the agency, understanding, and tools to implement MVAs successfully.
- Teacher workshops and externships
- Peer learning and fellowships
- In-person networking and conferences
- Regional & national school tours
Career Education Landscape
Outline and highlight the ways by which school entities can engage their students in career exploration and self-reflection. We provide schools with regional intelligence about relevant strategies.
Badging
Digital credentials and badging currently serve as important mechanisms for helping students understand their skills and share evidence of program efficacy. As we continue to accumulate insights, students’ learning data will unlock progressively valuable information that will inform the long-term RWL strategy. Our goal is to support districts in badging Market Value Assets in a way that is sustainable, integrated, and valuable to students.
- Build a two-sided market
- Integrate badging throughout the course schedule
- Ensure that badging provides value to students